


Friends look out for eachother

by rereis_senpai



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Depressed Keith (Voltron), Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Insecure Keith (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Matt is there to help, Platonic Katt, Platonic Shatt, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Hatred, Someone help the poor boy, can be read romantically or platonically, keith's self sacrifice, lotor is mentioned, s4e6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2019-01-18 14:23:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12389880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rereis_senpai/pseuds/rereis_senpai
Summary: Matt confronts Keith who just isn't in the mood for all this nonsense.





	Friends look out for eachother

Keith stumbled into the castle with Matt, who had been eying Keith carefully ever since his reckless decision of flying his pod into the barrier. Of course that wasn’t why Matt was looking over Keith’s every move.

No.

Rather, it was because Keith had been _willing_ to give up his life _that easily_. No goodbyes, no apologies, no hugs, no kisses. No, Keith was just willing to throw his life away like wrapping paper that Matt began to think darkly.

_‘Was Keith suicidal?’_

It didn’t seem so as Matt had held Keith’s arm tightly and the latter hadn’t even winced. So this either meant that Keith doesn’t cut or that he just has really high levels of pain tolerance- which is good for war but terrible emotionally and mentally.

“Keith.” Matt called, “Why did you think that something as reckless as that would benefit anyone?”

Keith inhaled shakily and gave him a hardened stare.

“I don’t need to answer to you.”

And with that, the lone wolf walked away.

 

* * *

 

 

Matt didn’t sign up for the teen angst, but he really should’ve expected it. After all, he technically already met these kids long ago as “those Garrison students”. Well, except for Katie and Keith.

He had met Keith when Shiro brought him over and showed off the tech they’d be using during the Kerberos Mission, and introduced him to his co-pilots- Matt and his father. Along the way back, the three- Keith, Shiro and Matt- had a discussion about the mission and eventually trailed to a topic that everyone- even Katie- could discuss on. Anime.

“I really like Death Parade.” Keith said, “I mean, the way they actually find out the person’s true personality is so fascinating. And then the sad bit at the end somewhat got to me.” And then he whispered to Matt with his back turned towards Shiro, “But it sure got Shiro weeping all night.”

And then they laughed- though not Shiro, he was trying to retain his reputation as a strong man, not a crybaby.

“Hey at least I didn’t cry when Ciel’s backstory was shown!” He huffed and realised he technically just crossed a line and went to apologise, but was stopped by his younger brother.

“Nah it’s ok Shiro.” He winked, “It’s not like I cried when we watched Shelter or anything.”

“Dude! You cried too?!” Matt shrieked and high fived his best friend. “That part was just _so_ sad you know? She was just so alone out there in space! And there wasn’t any other human!” he fanboyed(?).

“Oh great.” Katie sighed, “They’re discussing sad anime stuff again.”

“Do they have those a lot?” Keith asked.

“Yeah, they practically argue every time they have sleepovers or marathon movie night.” She crossed her arms. “And Shelter isn’t even an anime!”

“I feel your pain.” Keith sympathised. “I mean, sure the anime is good and all but the manga is waaay better in my opinion.”

“I agree with you so much but our nerd brothers are still gonna make a racket either way.”

“If they’re gonna make racket, then let’s give them a taste of karma.” Keith winked and Katie laughed, following his plan to prank the boys.

“Man you are brutal.” She eyed him dangerously, “But… you aren’t as brutal as me!”

“Oh it is on.” He smirked and they headed towards the boys’ location, ready to sever the movie night.

 

* * *

 

Matt sighed and realised that he was day-dreaming again.

_‘But man, those were some fun times… I wonder what happened.’_

He rounded a corner and found himself in front of the lounge where the others had been conversing. As they chat animatedly, Matt walked to Shiro and tapped his shoulder.

“Hm? Oh hey Matt!” He grinned warmly.

“Hey Shiro. Uhm, do you know where Keith may be?” He asked. “I need to ask him about something.”

“Oh, he should be in the guest room or the training room.” Shiro answered. “What do you need from him?”

“Oh I just wanted to ask why he did something.” Matt explained vaguely.

“You can trust me Matt, what did Keith do that caught your attention so badly?” Shiro raised a brow.

“Uh, well, you can ask Coran but when we were trying to, uh, take down the barriers, he suggested that-“ Someone had grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the conversation.

He looked over his shoulder and found that the person was mainly wearing BOM-like armour, so he guessed that it was Keith.

“Hey Keith why’d you-?” Matt grunted as Keith pushed him into a wall. “Dude that hurts you know?”

Keith growled. “Why did you tell him?”

“Tell who? Shiro? He has the right to know as your brother-“ Keith had kicked Matt’s gut.

“Dude, why so violent?” Matt coughed.

“Why would you tell him Matt? I thought you would understand why I did it.” Keith said shakily.

“That’s the thing, I don’t.” Matt tried to get up, but managed to sit, his back resting on the wall. “And I wanted you to explain why you did it.”

“Why? Why do you care so much? We literally know each other since that one time we were looking at the Kerberos equipment.” Keith sank down to the floor, his hand flew up to his face as his breathing began to shake, as if he were crying.

Matt’s eyes softened and his big brother mode switched on.

“Keith, who wouldn’t care about you?” Matt wrapped his arms around the poor boy and comforted him.

“Who wouldn’t? I mean, I’m no leader, I make terrible decisions, I’m impulsive, I can’t control my anger and I,” He broke off, openly weeping into older boy’s shoulder, his head rested on the crook of his neck as he let out his inner turmoil. Despite the sobbing, Matt continued to rub the boy’s back to assure him that there’s someone for him.

As the minutes went by, Keith’s tears decreased and then he found himself enjoying the hug Matt gave him, and fell asleep in it. Matt was surprised that Keith literally fell asleep in his arms. In a way, he felt like he completed his objective as an older brother.

Despite the pain in his stomach, he pushed on and carried Keith (bridal style) into the lounge where all the others are. Even though he knew Keith wouldn’t want everyone’s attention on him, the closest place to lay the hybrid was there and Matt definitely did not have the needed energy to carry Keith to his room. 1. Because he didn’t know where it is, 2. Because there’s a lounge right there.

He dragged his feet to the sofa and gently laid the worn out boy there. Everyone had crowded around him, so he sat down next to the boy and asked why they were watching.

“Oh you know, it’s not every day that Keith, _the Keith_ , passes out.” Hunk said.

“Speaking of which, why did he pass out?” Shiro asked.

Matt stayed silent.

“Maaaaatt. Why do you have be like thiiiiiiiiis.” Katie whined.

Matt sighed and looked up to them.

“You guys should really thank Lotor you know?” he crossed his arms and closed his eyes as he relived the life changing experience. “Keith wouldn’t have been here if it wasn’t for him.”

The room became tenser as the name of the banished alien prince was brought up. They were all (well, except Coran) confused as to why Matt was so thankful at their enemy so they kept pestering him.

“What do you mean?” Shiro asked.

“What I mean is!” Matt huffed in an aggravated manner, “Keith just tried to sacrifice himself for you guys!”

Silence. Tense and awkward silence. No one had expected that. No one had even thought of anything _close_ to that.

“Exactly.” He eyed every participant in the room, “He thought his life was worth so little that he would give it up for you all.” He went to his room, but just before he exited the lounge he whispered, “ _And you all remained oblivious._ ”

 

* * *

 

 

Keith woke up and found himself on the lounge’s sofa thing. He also found himself in the centre of attention, so he couldn’t really escape to his room and barricade himself in there.

“Hey everyone…” he greeted awkwardly. “So uh, what’s up? Why’s everyone looking at me like that? I didn’t do anything wrong right?” he asked, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Keith, hey man.” Lance called and snuck his arm around Keith’s shoulders. “Matt told us.”

_‘Matt told them.’_ A mantra was made and circled itself inside of Keith’s head. He was fucked. With his emotionally unstable mind he’s bound to break his promise.

_‘You won’t cry.’_ He reassured himself.

“Uh, what do you mean?” He played innocent.

“Don’t you even try Keith.” Lance warned, “We all saw you passed out in Matt’s arms. We _know_ about your willingness to sacrifice yourself. We know…” Lance inhaled shakily.

“We know, that if it weren’t for Lotor, that you’d be out there. In space. _Dead._ ” His breathing became uneven as he composed himself.

Keith was frozen. _‘They knew.’_

_‘They knew about his failure.’_

“Why?” Allura asked. “Why would you sacrifice yourself so easily? You still have a future ahead.”

Keith shrugged. “Why are you guys talking to me like I was about to commit suicide or something?”

“Because you were!” Pidge shrieked. “You were out there! You were so willing to destroy yourself! For what?! A shield?!”

“You guys were in danger! Voltron would have perished if we continued doing what we were doing!” He yelled, and whispered. “You guys would’ve been dead too. I can’t bear that.”

Everyone was stunned by the answer, but he continued on.

“I had thought, if I gave up my life so the universe’s hopes and heroes lived, would that be worth my happiness?” he hugged his knees. “And I thought, yes. There was no point in me staying here. Everyone’s already settled in their place. If I had taken Red back, Allura’s progress with Blue would be worthless. So I thought that this castle had one paladin too many and left.”

He breathed.

“Perhaps it had been silly of me to hope that, maybe one of you guys would at least _try_ to change my mind. Persuade me. Make me think that I still held some value by staying. But there wasn’t anyone there. No one was there to convince me to stay like Pidge. It made me realise something.”

He lifted his head, his beautiful eyes shone with tears.

“It made me realise that I wasn’t wanted there. I wasn’t wanted anywhere- orphanages, school, Garrison, the desert. Not even my mom wanted me! So I left for the next best thing…”

He sighed and closed his eyes. Why was he confessing? There was no point to this.

“But there was no point. I was useless in the Blade anyways. Everyone kept dying and I had a hard time following orders. And then I saw how willing everyone in the Blade was to give their life up for the mission, that it opened my eyes to the reality that is this war.”

He opened his eyes, and the dam broke. Tears openly slid on his cheeks and fell onto his uniform.

“It made me realise that the mission is much more important than the life if it can help stop the war. So that’s what I did.”

Everyone gave a shaky breath as they cautiously surrounded the poor boy with hugs. He felt nostalgic.

_‘Heh, it’s like that goodbye hug before I left.’_

As time stretched on, Keith began enjoying the company of the paladins. They had each whispered to him that he was wrong, that he was as valuable to the team as Voltron was to the universe, that they all loved him and would miss him if he died.

As they broke the group hug, Keith wiped the tear stains off and made his way to his room via his new friend’s room. He knocked gently on the door and was greeted by an “It’s open.” And walked inside.

He sat on Matt’s bed and watched on as the rebel officer analysed some codes.

“So what brought you here?” He inquired, it wasn’t every day that a moody teen brought themselves in front of his door.

Keith cleared his throat, “I wanted to thank you.”

“Thank me for what?” Matt asked. He was confused, did Keith not know what it meant to be allies? Friends? Mutuals?

“I wanted to thank you for reaching out to me when the others didn’t. Which is really ironic seeing as they were all _my_ team at one point.” He chuckled. Matt eyed him closely.

“No worries. Just looking out for a friend.” He said casually and went back to the codes, silently waiting for the other boy’s reaction.

“Friend? We’re… friends?” He asked.

Matt turned around. “Of course! Didn’t you know that?”

Keith shook his head.

“Well now you know! That’s why I was so worried back there. I had to tell them so they could apologise and help you get over your depression. So yeah… sorry for stepping on your privacy there.” Matt sheepishly rubbed his neck.

A small smile blessed Keith’s face, “It’s ok. I understand, it was in your best interest after all. And thank you for looking out for me I appreciate it.”

Matt grinned back.

Despite their short time together, they managed to create a bond as strong as the lions.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still really sad that there aren't as much fanfic about Keith's self-sacrifice in S4 than Langst in the other series. It goes to show how biased this fandom is. But here's my contribution because I love my son and I want whatever's the best for him. I wish I could hug him and tell him that people really care about him, and would be devastated if he died.
> 
> By the end of writing this fic, I ended leaving Klance and joined Katt because man that is such an underappreciated cute ship.


End file.
